Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Iron Man, or Marvel Comics.

The enormous replica of the Iron Man suit was enough to even satisfy Tony Stark's ego. Pepper Potts gazed at it with bemusement, her hand was steady as she sipped slightly on her Vodka Martini. She still had one olive left, and out of habit, something she didn't even notice now, she left it till last.

Moving her gaze from the somewhat ostentatious statuette, Pepper glanced around the room. It was beautifully decorated, something she inwardly glowed about. The golden chandeliers shined, as did the polished wooden floors, the round tables covered with crimson tablecloths and golden candles were expertly laid out. White flower arrangements graced the tables, and around the sides of the room. It had always baffled her as to why a ballroom was needed within their offices however once again, Tony Stark defied the odds.

She could smell the food cooking from the nearby kitchen and almost licked her lips in appreciation; she had already peaked in to see how they were going, only to be pushed out by the grumpy Chef (although he had smiled at her.) She took another sip of her drink and said a quiet 'hello' to some members of the board that were invited from Stark Industries.

She looked around again, her eyes landed on her boss. He was looking very handsome; his crisp black pinstriped suit fit him well, obviously as it was one of a large number that he had specially made for himself. His hair wasn't slicked back but fell over his head and he was grinning at a comment Rhodey had just made and the two of them raised their glasses.

She rolled her eyes, she knew instantly that she did not want any part of that particular conversation; she quickly turned her gaze lest Mr Stark felt her looking at them and beckoned her over. He hadn't seen her yet, she had been here nearly all day organising the set up for the gala, and then she had gone home to get herself ready. Her dress was purple, something she had chosen deliberately, to try and get away from the red and gold theme.

She felt a hand brush her upper arm and she turned to see Timothy Charit, she momentarily displayed her surprise at him talking to her, however she smiled genially and went to shake the offered hand however it was raised to her lips before the shaking could commence.

She tried to stop her blush but was unsuccessful to the delight of the handsome man in front of her. He was another business owner, and had worked with Mr Stark before, she knew as she had attended many business meetings where to the two colossal giants had clashed. Timothy was younger than Tony; however his empire was not as well forged, although he argued that he still had time, unlike Stark.

His youth he used to his advantage, until it no longer bothered Tony, and soon Charit found himself unable to find any leverage against him, a source of great annoyance, especially now that Tony could be considered a 'superhero'.

Swishing his brown hair out of his eyes, Timothy smiled at Pepper Potts, a woman he had quietly wished to have as his own, and not just as a secretary. Unfortunately Tony Stark had gotten there first, although he had to remind himself there was a part of Miss Potts' life Stark had not infiltrated, a very important part, one he wished to claim for himself. And slowly he was getting there, though as of late the mountain he had been scaling seemed to add on an extra hundred feet since Tony Stark finally managed to see what had been in front of him all that time.

"You look lovely, tonight." He inwardly jumped as she smiled at him and thanked him, she was the type of person that always looked you in the eye, and her eyes were just a number of small things that got his heart rate pumping.

"While the suit is not specifically iron, the phrase "Iron Man" is rather catchy, in more way than one I do assure you."

Tony Starch sipped his scotch and smirked as people around him laughed at the pun, he glanced around, many people he recognised, men and women although there was always the one that managed to avoid his gaze. He turned back towards the group and again was bombarded by questions regarding his suit, questions he knew exactly how to answer without revealing anything potentially life-threatening, the last thing he wanted was for his suits weaknesses to be leaked, he already had enough enemies being a weapons manufacturer.

He placed his empty glass on a nearby waitress tray, he ignored the flirtatious smile and didn't bother ordering another, if it was one thing he always did, it was get his own drink, especially after the debacle in Mexico a few years back. How that got covered up he didn't know, and at the time he hadn't really cared.

He glanced around and locked glances with a few of his old friends, who now only pretended to be out of suspicion of his next actions. Quickly mentioning he would be back, Tony gently slapped a hand on Rhodey's back and walked towards the bar. Again he asked for his signature drink as the scotch was rather good, he had to commend Pepper on her drink selection. If only he could find her in this stuffy ballroom.

Unfortunately he found the one-night stand he dreaded since he had her kicked out of his house. She had been good he had to admit, Brown had taught her well; however she seemed to now have a personal vendetta against him that would not quit. She was dressed in an emerald green that worked wonders with her skin tone. And she knew it. She seemed to have her eye on him but she walked in the opposite direction. He followed her with wariness and was shocked to find that she stopped right in front of Pepper.

He took his drink from the bartender with nonchalant thanks, and turned back towards the two. He grimaced slightly, two were in fact three. Charit, the thorn in his side that never ceased to try and rib him the wrong way, it hadn't been till both Rhodey, Pepper and Obadiah pulled him aside to tell him that Charit was succeeding that he had finally stopped letting it get to him, and to his pleasure, Charit has become ever more frustrated. Of course now, Charit had turned his gaze towards Pepper, something Tony knew would not sit well.

How he hadn't noticed the deep royal purple he didn't know, perhaps he was expecting another blue number. Running his tongue over the seam of his lips her gazed heavily on the three, none of them looked at him which both pleased and irritated him. He hated being ignored. Charit was being his usual self, something that made him smirk, he was utterly boring and he could see it written on Pepper's face.

He perused her closely, the dress was elegant, something he had expected from her, he also wondered whether it was a present from him. If it was he congratulated himself silently by taking another sip of his drink. It had its sides cut out he noticed and again her back was bare, a growing trend of hers he was beginning to like very much. Unfortunately he was only given a view of her back, not that he was complaining, it was nice view, however the front he found with Pepper Potts was always more entertaining.

Pepper Potts had never like the Vanity Fair reporter, the woman seemed to go out of her way to make Tony's life and everyone's around him as torturous as possible, as seen by the way she constantly tried to insult her only to protect her own pride of being left as a one night stand.

Of course it didn't help that the woman was really rather beautiful. Inwardly sighing and trying hard to listen, and not look like she was trying to listen Pepper turned her thoughts back to Timothy and smiled again.

"Charit, wonderful to see you, how's the family?"

Tony smirked as one gasp and two irritated faces turned upon him, he held out his hand to shake and found the grip to be painful. As usual he didn't bother to take the hint, he stared at Pepper unabashed and smiled smally, "another wonderful present from Tony Stark?"

He was delighted when she smiled back but surprised when she shook her head, "no, this I actually went out and bought myself."

"And you're taste is exquisite, no doubt she had to dress you herself Stark," Tony smirked ignoring Timothy completely, "unfortunately no, I can dress myself, rather well if you hadn't noticed, you may want to take notes, however trust that if Miss Potts had to dress me we wouldn't be here tonight."

Pepper blushed at the insinuation making Tony smile all the more as he took another sip of his Scotch. Christine Everhart just rolled her eyes, while Charit grimaced with distaste. The four of them said nothing but all clapped politely as the song finished and another started.

His feathers ruffled by Stark's insipid humour, Charit turned to Pepper, "would you care to dance with me, now think carefully before you refuse, my heart is in jeopardy." Tony choked on his drink, and even the emerald beauty pursed her lips at the dreadful line. Pepper however as a saving grace accepted the elbow offered and with a polite 'excuse us' the two of them were soon gliding along the dance floor in a pompous fashion.

His good humour sank to his polished shoes the moment Pepper agreed to dance, much he noticed, to the delight of the reporter in front of him, who surprisingly had said nothing to him. He raised an eyebrow at her to which she smiled bitingly and walked passed him deliberately brushing her shoulder against his.

He didn't bother to follow her swaying hips, he instead kept his eyes on Charit's hands and missed the enraged look Miss Brown had given him as he missed her meeting her boyfriend with surprising passion. He also missed the knowing gaze of his chauffeur and of Rhodey as he could only focus on the twat leading his assistant around the dance floor in sweeping motions, before twirling her out, then in again too close to his body. He was pleased to note that Pepper looked highly uncomfortable, at least a different uncomfortable to what she had to when she had danced with him last year.

He polished off the last off his drink and held it quietly in his hand. It almost shattered when he saw Charit brush some of her hair off her collarbone to tuck behind her ear, irritated he started to stride towards the pair, he placed his glass roughly on a table, one he was sure was not his and was stopped by Rhodey, who albeit was grinning, still stopped him from making a scene. Although it didn't really matter, as Charit's movements had been too wide and sweeping for Pepper's heels and one of them snapped off loudly almost deafening her cry of pain.

Tony stopped pushing Rhodey out of the way and looked at her. Her eyes were slightly red and she had stooped down to pick up the broken heel. Charit the idiot was apologising profusely asking if she was okay. He noticed with slight pride that she held out a hand to stop him from helping her, with bare feet and all the dignity she could muster she marched out of the ball room and before the swinging doors had closed on her, Tony noticed she turned left, instead of right.

The gasps and gossiping still hadn't stopped as the door swung behind her, while the people in the ballroom lacked tact, she still didn't blame them. It was not often a broken heel interrupted a rather good dance between two people, especially in this day and age. She hobbled slightly towards her Tony's office where her desk was, in the bottom drawer she always kept a spare pair of shoes and while these would probably not match her outfit it wouldn't matter as the dress would hide them anyway.

She reached the door and pushed it open but not before delighting in the fact of throwing her other shoes in the rubbish bin. She stopped and carefully rolled her ankle around, feeling no pain she smiled and put it back down. Her ankle still throbbed slightly but it was nothing that wouldn't be gone in a few moments. Slowly she walked towards her desk, it was on the left side of Tony's, she smiled as she remembered why it was put on the left instead of the right. "…The minute they see you, no one will want to have anything to do with me…"

She sat against her desk and continued rolling her ankle. It was unfortunate that she couldn't bend down to massage it herself, the dress made it impossible. Sighing she looked around. The view from his office was beautiful at night, lights of different colours and sizes littered the city, "If it was one thing I never would have imagined seeing, it would be Pepper Potts barefooted."

She whirled around to see Tony casually leaning against the doorframe, his silver tie glinted in the shadow as he walked towards her, he stopped at her desk and fiddled with a knob on her desk. The lights faded on and she could see his face clearer, it made her nervous as the lighting was intimate at best and the last thing she needed was for someone to find the two of them. He stopped just in front of her, almost too close and his eyes pierced her's with a scary intensity. "Are you alright, you're not hurt or anything? No?"

She had answered all his questions with affirmation that she was fine and there was nothing potentially life threatening to her body. His eyes skimmed her body to make sure, he lingered on her hips, chest and ankles but it was nothing she wasn't used to. He pulled away from her and turned back towards her desk, he hooked a foot underneath the bottom drawer and pulled, the shoes were the only item in there, something that didn't surprise him, he made a mental note to get her a bigger desk.

She started to turn towards him to grab the black high heels, however she was stopped by his hand, it was warm, she could feel it through the fabric on her hip and the small touch from his fingers on her back. She turned her head to look at him, her confusion must have been evident because he smirked, he walked forward, still holding the shoes and his hand moved along her lower back, she ignored the soft feeling as she watched him drop down onto his haunches. His hand had brushed the fabric of her dress before he met her ankle. "Hold on to something," was all he said before gently raising her foot and moving the floaty fabric out of the way.

Pepper couldn't see his face anymore as he was still behind her, however she felt every touch, his hands gently rubbed her sore foot before slipping it into the shoe and buckling up the tiny buckle. He repeated the same action achingly slowly on the other foot, he unlike Pepper, had noticed her breathing had changed and he smiled almost wolfishly. Once he had finished he let her foot drop down and she unsteadily let go of the window she had been holding. She looked back over her shoulder but froze as she felt Tony rise, along with his hand.

His hand trailed up the small dip in the fabric her legs back, then as soon as he reached the very top of her thighs he moved his hand back to her hip, his body started to move not long after his hand, he was so close she could almost feel his nose brush the silky fabric. She opened her mouth to speak but again stopped as his other hand started on her flesh, the tips traced her spine while his other hand stayed at her hip gently, she felt his nose, followed by his lips trace a pattern starting halfway up her back, this made her let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding in followed by a gasp as he kissed the bare skin of her shoulder blade. The hand that had been trailing up her back moved to her ribcage as he continued kissing and gently scraping his teeth along her back. He moved his body closer to her and pulled her back to him as she tried to create space.

He breathed heavily against her skin and looked up to meet her eyes, she was flushed prettily and her mouth was slightly open, a perfect opportunity. For seconds the two stared at each other in silence, one too afraid to say anything, the other having no idea what to say at all. He moved again to stand exactly behind her and moved some of her hair; he laid a feather light kiss on the side of her neck and inhaled her scent.

"Tony." Her whisper of his name was enough to break whatever control he had left, unfortunately at that moment a knock on the door sounded and she jumped from his embrace too quickly for his liking. "Miss Potts?" Timothy Charit stared at her, she looked slightly pale although he made a guess it was from the pain. Inwardly he cringed as he realised it was because of him she was in such pain, he moved forward into the room, "I hope you're feeling alright, I was wondering if I could accompany you downstairs, without dancing I promise." He was relieved when she returned his smile, albeit it was hesitant. She walked to him with only one wobble and took his arm. "Stark?"

He almost blanched, the look he was given was full of potent hatred, something he had never seen Tony Stark do, ever. Timothy noticed that neither Stark, nor Miss Potts looked at each other and wondered slightly if he had walked on anything of importance. Stark turned his back on them and gave some glib remark about returning soon, so he didn't need to fear his unexciting self would bore everyone.

Tony Stark heard the splutter and the shutting of the door; he waited a few moments before letting out a ragged breath. He braced his hands on the window; and looked out into the night; he tried to imprint the view in his mind, so another one would no longer impair his vision.

End.

Please tell me what you think. My first ever Iron Man fanfiction, again I am one of those naughty people who have seen the movie and subsequently fallen in love with it but have not read the comics. Anyway I hope you enjoyed it.